Author's note: I had a rather shitty week with not so good news at the vet's once more, so if that in any way seeps through in this chapter, I apologise.

Thanks to the following reviewers: PinkiePieParty122894; leighd1314; Pen-Woman; SarahNThatcher; Kalos; Sebby-chan3000; JaiJayce

Warnings: Some self-loathing; violence

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Kishimoto owns it. I also don't own Pokémon, that belongs to Satoshi Tajiri and The Pokémon Company.

I hope you'll like it!

Chapter 27

How could he have been so reckless? He should have picked up Mimikyu when they had started running! Mimikyu's speed had improved since they had started training, but of course he hadn't been quick enough yet to keep up with the others. Naruto should have grabbed him the second he had realised they should start running. How could he have been so stupid? It was his fault that Mimikyu was trapped behind those rocks now. What kind of Trainer was he that he hadn't even thought to grab Mimikyu?

His spiral of self-loathing was abruptly cut off by Mimikyu's weak whine and Naruto slapped his hands against his cheeks, berating himself. He could wallow in self-contempt later; Mimikyu counted on him to get him free and he wasn't going to let him down! No matter what he had to do, he would get Mimikyu out of there; he wasn't going to leave a part of his team behind, he didn't care how long it would take him.

He snatched the torch from the ground and hurried to the wall of rocks behind which Mimikyu was stuck. "I'm going to get you out of there, okay, Mimikyu? We'll figure out a way!" he rushed to reassure his Pokémon. "Are you in any way hurt?"

"Mimi … Kyu, Mimi," Mimikyu answered after a short pause. No, but costume stuck.

Naruto winced. While it was good that Mimikyu wasn't hurt, he was no doubt upset about his costume. Depending on how it was stuck, it might need just a couple of stitches or Mimikyu would have to make an entire new costume. That was a worry for later, though. Now the most important issue was getting Mimikyu freed. What would be the best way to get to Mimikyu? Even if Naruto knew his way around the mountain, he couldn't use another pathway to reach Mimikyu. The entire corridor had collapsed; it was a miracle Mimikyu had even managed to survive that collapse unscathed!

When he thought of how badly hurt Mimikyu could have been or worse, how he could have lost him …

No, not the time to think about that. Mimikyu was trapped and needed Naruto's help. This wasn't the time to start fretting about what ifs.

So trying to find another way around was completely out. Try to remove the rocks then?

After placing the torch back on the ground with the beam aimed at the wall in front of him, he started wricking the first rock his fingers latched onto. Toxtricity and Lucario started tugging at the rocks too while Pidgeotto, Vulpix and Vaporeon paced – or flew – back and forth anxiously. They managed to remove several rocks, throwing them to the side, but it quickly became clear that they wouldn't be able to move the others.

'Rocks are too heavy.' Lucario had noticed their predicament as well.

Toxtricity swished his tail back and forth agitatedly, leaving grooves behind in the rock he was holding. "Too tight together," he hissed.

The rocks were indeed wedged too tightly against each other for them to be able to remove them. Naruto tried driving his fingers between the smallest gap he could find, but it was of no use. All he managed was to claw a little bit of dust free, but they could hardly try to chip away at the rocks! That would take months if not years!

"Well, that's a bust then," he muttered darkly and pulled his hands away, ignoring how the tips of his fingers throbbed. Sweat was already starting to lightly coat the back of his neck, even with the frigid air hanging stagnant in the corridor.

"Mimikyu, Mimi!" Don't leave Mimikyu!

"Of course not!" Naruto exclaimed, his heart clenching at the pure fear he heard in Mimikyu's voice. "We are not going to leave you, Mimikyu. We'll just have to try to find another way to get to you. We can't move away all the rocks, so creating a gap is …"

He trailed off and grabbed his torch again, bringing the beam of light from left to right and back again. There were actually a couple of small gaps between the heap of rocks. They were not even big enough to stick his hand through, so it wasn't as if he could wiggle his way through that, but Mimikyu might be able to.

Naruto's breathing hitched and he hastily lowered himself onto his knees, testing one of the bigger gaps with his fingers. He couldn't fit his hand through it, but for a Pokémon with a non-corporeal body like Mimikyu, it might be possible. Mimikyu was part Ghost after all and didn't possess a real tangible body, not like the rest of his team did. If Mimikyu could get out of his costume, he could worm his way through the gap and then he would be free!

Clutching to that hope, he called out to Mimikyu, "Mimikyu, I've got an idea! We can't move the rocks away, but there are small gaps here at the bottom. You should be able to squeeze through one of them!"

"Kyu." Can't.

"Of course you can!" Naruto encouraged. "I know you don't want to leave your costume behind, but you can create a new one, it's fine!"

"Mimi, Mimikyu, Kyu, Mimi!" Can't, too scary!

"It'll be fine," Naruto coaxed. "You can wriggle through the gap and I'll be here to catch you, I promise!"

"Mimikyu, Mimi, Kyu, Mimi Mimikyu!" No, Trainer will hate Mimikyu!

"I could never hate Mimikyu. Why would I hate you?" Naruto asked baffled.

Why on earth did Mimikyu think he would hate him? How could he ever hate Mimikyu?

"Mimikyu, Mimi, Kyu. Mimi, Kyu, Mimi." Mimikyu doesn't want to scare Trainer. Mimikyu is too ugly, too scary.

"Mimikyu, you aren't ugly at all!" Naruto protested immediately. "You would never be able to scare me, I swear! You're one of the cutest Pokémon I know. You don't need to worry, I just want you to be safe!"

But no matter what he said, no matter how much he coaxed, Mimikyu was adamant: he would not abandon his costume for fear of being hated. So afraid was he of being rejected by his Trainer that he absolutely refused to leave his costume behind. Just how horribly had he been taunted by other Pokémon for years that he was so afraid of losing Naruto even after all the time they had spent together already?

Naruto felt helpless. Using the gaps between the rocks was probably the best option they had, but Mimikyu sounded absolutely petrified. He wished he could go back in time and protect Mimikyu before those nasty people and Pokémon managed to make him feel horrible about himself, but he couldn't. He had never felt so helpless before as now.

"Vulpix, Vulpix," Vulpix muttered despondently. Not going to budge.

"Mimi, Mimikyu! Kyu, Mimi!" Don't hate Mimikyu, please! Don't leave Mimikyu!

If Mimikyu's weak cry before had fractured Naruto's heart, his fearful plea now nearly broke his heart. It hurt to hear his Pokémon so worried, so afraid of being left behind.

"I swear, Mimikyu, we are not leaving you behind," Naruto swore and stood up, pressing his lips together.

If pulling the rocks by hand wouldn't work and Mimikyu was too worried about how they would react to his real form, then perhaps brute force was in order?

"Okay, new plan," he announced. "Mimikyu, can you press yourself to the side as much as you can? The rest of you, aim your strongest attacks right at the middle of this wall!"

He stepped out of the way while his team gathered in a row in front of the rocks. Vaporeon's attack would be the strongest, given his Water Type, but hopefully a combined attack of all five would create a hole in the wall big enough so that he could free Mimikyu. It was a bit risky, making a hole through such brute force, but removing them manually just wasn't working.

Vaporeon aimed his Water Pulse at the rocks; the sound of the water echoing loudly through the space. Pidgeotto shot off multiple Whirlwinds at the centre, followed by more powerful Wing Attacks, screeching furiously. Vulpix opened her mouth widely and shot a continuous Flamethrower at the wall, lightening up the cave with its orange red glow. Lucario blasted a move which Naruto finally recognised as Aura Sphere; it landed against the rocks with an impressive blow, sending shrapnel flying. Toxtricity shot several Thunder Shocks and Discharges right after each other.

It was a testament to how strong Toxtricity already was that his attacks were actually doing damage. Naruto hadn't expected electric attacks to be able to deal heavy blows to the rocks, but hair thin fractures were spreading out across the rocks, aiding the other attacks in wearing down the stone.

This strategy also wouldn't be enough, though, Naruto realised with growing despair. Yes, the attacks were doing damage to the wall, but he could see Vaporeon and Lucario starting to falter as they took longer and longer to launch a new attack. Pidgeotto too was slowing down in his attacks; his screeching interspersed with croaks. Vulpix' Flamethrower was still as powerful as ever, but Naruto could see how her legs were starting to tremble as she was seemingly putting all the strength she had in her attack, causing her body to slowly give out. Toxtricity was still the most energetic out of everyone, but some of his attacks were growing sloppier as agitation was clearly starting to take over; muted snarls and vicious hissing audible between each gush of water hitting the rocks, between each crackling fire spiral and each mighty blow of an Aura Sphere.

They couldn't keep this up. Not for that much longer and definitely not without risking becoming too exhausted to defend themselves against wild Pokémon. Because that was also a glaring issue they couldn't forget: they were still stuck in the mountain, surrounded by wild Pokémon. He could perhaps switch out two of his Pokémon for Zweilous and Geodude, the ones he had caught recently, but he hadn't had the chance to train them yet and he had no idea whether they would even want to listen to him. Geodude might listen to him, but would Zweilous? If Zweilous decided to turn against him …

Mimikyu and Riolu hadn't had an easy time taking him down and that had been when both had been at full health. What would happen if Zweilous refused to listen to Naruto and turned against him? After all the attacks his Pokémon had unleashed at the rocks so far, with just a small crater to show for it, they would have a hard time subduing a Pokémon of Zweilous' nature. Maybe if he had had time to train Zweilous and Geodude he could have risked switching them out for two others, but that wasn't an option now.

What else could they do, though? While every attack did damage the wall, it also raised the risk of them being found by wild Pokémon. Vaporeon was already at his limits and Lucario wasn't that far behind; they were both Naruto's best option to deal with mountain Pokémon and if they grew too exhausted, they would all be screwed. He very much doubted that the wild Pokémon would be willing to give them a break!

Wait.

Naruto froze, as he watched another Water Pulse chip away at the stones. The idea that had just formed in his mind was stupid, beyond idiotic and dangerous, possibly life-threatening, but – it might work. The chances were small, but not non-existent and at this point he was willing to try anything to get Mimikyu back with them. Keeping up this strategy of damaging the rocks might yield results eventually, but that would take too long and it risked driving his team to the point of exhaustion, which he couldn't afford. If he had been certain they were close to an exit, he might have taken the risk, but he wasn't. Who knew how long they would still be stuck here? His team needed to preserve their strength, but they also needed to free Mimikyu.

There was only one option left.

"Everyone, stop!" he ordered and they ceased attacking immediately, turning in unison to look at him perplexed.

"Pidgeotto, Pidgeotto," Pidgeotto remarked, landing down on the ground, wobbling slightly. Not through yet.

"Vaporeon, Vaporeon, Vaporeon!" Vaporeon insisted, scraping his paw against the ground anxiously. Making progress!

'But not enough,' Lucario commented perturbed.

"I've got a new idea," Naruto said and took a deep breath. "Mimikyu, are you listening?"

"Kyu." Yes.

"It is very important that you keep yourself to the side as much as possible for this plan to work, okay?" Naruto said and shrugged off his bag. "I don't know how much room to move you have, but I need you to press yourself as tightly against the side of the wall as you can, all right?"

"Kyu!" Okay!

Naruto nodded even though Mimikyu couldn't see him and turned to address his other Pokémon. "Your attacks did some damage to the rocks already, but it isn't enough. I can't risk you exhausting yourselves too much."

I can go on, Toxtricity hissed in protest.

"Vulpix!" Me too!

"I know you can," Naruto hastened to say, before the other two could protest. "But we don't know how long we'll be stuck in this mountain and if you exhaust yourselves now, it can be pretty dangerous if we run into wild Pokémon."

'What is plan then?' Lucario asked bemused.

"For this plan, Toxtricity and Vulpix, you have to return to your Pokéballs."

Predictably that did not go over well and Naruto raised his hands, momentarily forgetting that he was still holding the torch. The light ended up wildly dancing across the ceiling before he lowered the torch again.

"I know you don't like it, but with this you can't help out, I'm sorry," he said bluntly. That earnt him a nasty glower of Toxtricity and narrowed eyes from Vulpix. He forged on regardless. "Vaporeon, I need you to be ready to launch a Water attack if necessary, so conserve your strength for now. Pidgeotto, you'll be backup; in case other wild Pokémon show up, try to chase them off by using your Whirlwind on the pieces of rock that broke off. Lucario, I need you to be ready to grab Mimikyu in case I can't reach him."

"Vaporeon, Vaporeon?" What Trainer doing? Vaporeon tilted his head to the left confused.

"I'm going to find a big Pokémon and lead them here so that they can smash through the rocks."

It was an idea that had spawned after he had heard the never-ending noise of Rock Pokémon slamming against the mountain walls. If there was any Pokémon that could smash through rocks, it would be one of those. Naruto wanted to bet that several of these tunnels had even been created by those Pokémon as they simply drilled their way through the earth.

The plan was incredibly risky, considering not every wild Pokémon would be willing to hear him out, but what other choice did he have? His team was reaching their limit and the mysterious Pokémon who had helped him out before was entirely absent; Naruto hadn't felt their presence even once since they had escaped the collapse.

He spent a brief moment worrying about the mysterious Pokémon and what might have happened to it, but he forced himself to stop thinking about it. He already had enough worries of his own, without adding the faith of an unknown Pokémon to that list. With how crafty it had appeared to be, though, there was a good chance it had managed to escape the collapse on time anyway.

His team broke out in protest immediately.

"Vulpix!" Too dangerous!

"Pidgeotto, Pidgeotto!" Can't trust them!

'Trainer might get hurt,' Lucario worried.

"I know it's risky," Naruto raised his voice and his team quietened down. "But we don't have another choice. You all need to conserve your strength and we need to get Mimikyu out of there. This might be our best chance. I know it's not perfect, but it's all that we have left."

His Pokémon shared a troubled look amongst each other.

Amidst the sudden silence, Mimikyu's small voice broke through. "Mimikyu, Mimikyu, Kyu." Mimikyu sorry, please don't leave.

"You don't have anything to be sorry about," Naruto said forcefully. "If anything, I am apologising to you because I should have picked you up. I'm sorry for failing you, Mimikyu."

"Mimikyu, Mimi, Kyu!" Trainer didn't fail!

"Yes, I did, but this isn't the time to talk about that." Naruto took a deep breath. "I will get you out of there, I swear. We're all going to leave this mountain together."

Vaporeon stepped forwards. "Vaporeon, Vaporeon." Will be ready.

"Vulpix!" Be careful!

Vulpix willingly retreated into her Pokéball and while Toxtricity's nostrils flared, he lowered his head and allowed the red light to envelop him. Naruto breathed out slowly and stored the Pokéballs in his bag instead of clicking them onto his belt. He had no idea which wild Pokémon he would end up leading here, but the less he risked his Pokémon the better.

"Keep to the walls," he instructed his remaining Pokémon. "And be on your guard."

Leaving his Pokémon behind put him on edge, but he didn't have a choice. He would need to find a wild Pokémon strong enough to smash through rocks, which limited his choices to Onix, Graveler, Golem or even Steelix. Steelix was the most dangerous option, but if it came down to it, he would guide that Pokémon back to the cave and let it go wild against the rocky wall.

He let the noise of rocks sliding against rock guide him through the corridor as he counted the corners and turns he took. Taking the turn to the left led to a hollowed out cave where the sound echoed the strongest.

The beam of his torch wandered across the cave and his heart nearly gave out when the light made a pair of eyes gleam.

"Hello there," Naruto said, his mouth dry, as stones started to shift, a rumble filling the cave as the wild Onix rose up.

Its beady eyes zeroed in on Naruto and another rumbling, like rocks smacking together, noise made Naruto flinch; the sound grating to his ears.

"I am really sorry for disturbing you," he said, growing nervous when the Onix didn't say anything. "But could I perhaps ask you for help? One of my Pokémon is stuck and I could - "

The roar that Onix released, sent Naruto nearly tripping backwards; his ears ringing with the reverberations. He had just two seconds to think oh shit, before he whirled around and started to run as Onix roared once more before pursuing him.

"It was just a question, I'm sorry for bothering you!" Naruto called out in a panic, but Onix wasn't about to back down.

The walls and ceiling shook as Onix forced his way through the narrow corridor, chasing after Naruto. Naruto could feel its cool breath hitting his back and sensing how close the Pokémon was, he forced his legs through another burst of speed, nearly slipping when he skidded around another corner. Onix' brutish way of moving sent several rocks crashing down and Naruto yelped when one nearly hit his head. He evaded the rock just in time, but had to duck to the right when Onix' jaw snapped close to his back.

Oh shit, he had really pissed off Onix! All he had done was just ask a question! He would have left and would have bothered another Pokémon if Onix hadn't been in the mood! Well, he obviously wasn't in the mood!

He ducked into the cave where he had left his Pokémon behind, spotted the three of them lurking in a corner, and then dove towards the rocks. Onix followed him straight into the cave, straining the opening to the point of the ceiling fracturing; cracks spreading out like spiderwebs. He worried too late that the cave might collapse, but this ceiling was apparently made out of sturdier stuff, because while Onix' robust form scrapped chips off the ceiling, it didn't collapse on top of them.

"Come on, you want to get me, right?" he taunted recklessly, dancing in front of the rocks.

Onix roared again and shot forwards. Before its giant head could squish Naruto, he ducked and rolled out of the way, letting Onix smash its head against the rocks. Onix abruptly pulled its head back, snarling enraged as it abruptly drew back, shaking its head.

There was a hole in the rocks.

The sight of the gap sent Naruto's heart racing and he flew in front of the rocks again, waving his arms wildly in the air. "Is that all you got?" he challenged.

Onix stopped shaking its head and with another furious roar, it rammed its head straight through the rocks. Naruto was just in time to run out of the way, though a part of one of Onix' boulders clipped him straight in his shoulder, making him bite down on his tongue to swallow his shout. Onix kept going, tunnelling its way through the collapsed tunnel, forcing the rocks to part for it.

Yellow cloth caught Naruto's attention immediately and he practically flew forwards, diving amongst the rubble to free Mimikyu. He shoved the stone aside that had kept Mimikyu trapped and brought him to his chest, laughing shrilly.

"I've got you!"

"Mimikyu!" Was scared!

Cold shadowy tendrils squeezed around his shoulders tightly and the fake head bumped into Naruto's chin. Naruto ignored the way the tight embrace made his shoulder protest and hugged Mimikyu back just as fiercely.

"I promised I would get you out," he said and sighed relieved, not even caring when his torch tumbled out of his grasp. "I'm so happy you're not hurt!"

Mimikyu's mewl of happiness drowned in Pidgeotto's sudden panicky screech. The rapidly approaching rumble made Naruto realise something was wrong. Onix was aiming straight for them.

Sounding more pissed off than before.

Panicking, Naruto threw Mimikyu towards where he thought Lucario was.

"Lucario, catch Mimikyu!" he managed to bring out before iron jaws clamped down around his leg and he shouted, kicking out with his free leg instinctively.

"Mimikyu!"

Wind whistled sharply around his ears as Onix swung him in the air, growling, sending painful vibrations through his injured leg. Before Onix could fully bite down, however, snapping his leg in the process, a fierce burst of water hit it straight into its face, making it rear back before abruptly flinging Naruto away.

Naruto flew through the air and smacked straight into the opposite wall; his head knocking painfully against a rock jutting out. Something warm dripped down the side of his face and he struggled to sit up, the dark cave spinning in front of him. He couldn't see anything without his torch, but he heard the awful roars that Onix let out, followed by Pidgeotto's screeching.

A bright light filled the cave and then –

Nothing.

AN2: Naruto is going through it obviously. Join the club, buddy.

Anyone playing Scarlet/Violet, don't forget to check your Mystery Gift option: one of the cutest Pokémon is up for grabs now!

Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.

I hope to see you all back in the next chapter! Please stay safe and take care of yourselves!

Cuddles

Melissa

P.S. For more information about my upcoming and posted stories, please visit my profile.